Exploring a New Paradigm of Web3 Social: The Social Layer Returning to the Essence of Social Interaction

In the world of cryptocurrency, incentive mechanisms have always been an inevitable topic. Bitcoin, as the first cryptocurrency, provides incentives for decentralized payment systems through the proof-of-work consensus mechanism and block rewards. Ethereum's Turing completeness further expands the possibilities of on-chain applications, transforming simple and straightforward incentives into complex token economics theories.

However, an excessive focus on incentive mechanisms may overlook the value of the application itself. Taking public chains and social applications as examples, public chains require incentive mechanisms to ensure ledger consistency, but the core of social applications lies in achieving basic social functions and data ownership, with incentives being merely an auxiliary consideration.

For a long time, the Web3 social space has been lukewarm. Although Friend.tech achieved short-term success with its straightforward incentives, its long-term sustainability is questionable. Applications that can truly retain users in the long run should prioritize social experience first and then consider incentive mechanisms. Social Layer is a protocol built on this very concept.

Social Layer originated from a discussion about community contribution records and incentive mechanisms. It leverages the openness of blockchain to help users quickly expand their social circles and form interconnected social networks. In terms of incentives, Social Layer uses non-quantitative badges to mark user value, rather than direct monetary rewards. The value of badges is determined by different community consensus, serving both as a community value assessment and a personal identity label.

The core components of the Social Layer include identity ( Identity ), social tokens ( Social Token ), merger ( Merger ), and wrapper ( Wrapper ) functions. Identities are divided into two categories: individual and organization, which carry relevant descriptive information. Social tokens include various types such as badges, NFTs, gift cards, private badges, and points. The merger function allows multiple social tokens to be synthesized into a new token, while the wrapper function supports cross-protocol value aggregation.

These innovative features provide strong scalability and imaginative potential for the Social Layer. For example, multiple community contributions can be combined into a premium identity badge, or tokens from other protocols can be wrapped for use within the Social Layer ecosystem.

In the future, Social Layer is expected to become the infrastructure for collaboration between DAOs and continuously expand its application scenarios. If it can sustain its development, Social Layer may become an important infrastructure in the Web3 social field, bringing users a brand new social experience.